gm posted its highest october sales since 2007, with deliveries up 5%. ford sales inched up just .4%. the company reports truck sales stalled slightly while car sales, especially for fuel-efficient models, picked up. ford's ceo, alan mulally, told reporters yesterday he intends to stay on until 2014. mark fields companies turnaround will soon bump up to coo. in overseas action, toyota sales bounced 16% higher, while volkswagon's were up 22%, making it the best october since 1972. meanwhile, small businesses are still reeling from the effects of superstorm sandy. sandy shut down and damaged many businesses in its trail. now a lifeline for business owners could come in the form of disaster assistance. chris hurn of mercantile capital says for small business owners affected by the storm, loans could be a chance to reboot business. "one of the things that is going to come out of a life- altering event like this is a lot of them are going to get insurance proceeds, and i'm a big advocate of people using those proceeds to maybe spur some action that they might